Dame Prue Leith says walking London Fashion Week runway at 86 is ‘ludicrous – but funny’
Alison Hammond, Matt Lucas and Charlene White watched the broadcaster and restaurateur take to the runway.
Dame Prue Leith says that walking the runway at 86 is “ludicrous”, but insists that is precisely why she enjoys it, as she returned to the catwalk for Vin + Omi at London Fashion Week.
The broadcaster and restaurateur walked the runway in a pink ruffled shirt and orange suit, with a floral headpiece for the design duo’s latest eco-collection, JORD – the day before her 86th birthday – in a show that also marks a new collaboration with the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
Her tailored suit was made from fabric developed using waste clippings of holly from the King’s Sandringham Estate, part of the designers’ ongoing collaboration with the King. Fellow guest model, editor-in-chief of the Evening Standard Dylan Jones, wore a similar holly-based look, reinforcing the collection’s central material innovation.
The partnership with the BHF follows designer Omi recently suffering two heart attacks and being diagnosed with heart disease.
For the first time in Vin + Omi’s 24-year history, selected one-off catwalk pieces will be made available to the public, with garments upcycled from BHF shop stock and then gifted back to the charity. All proceeds will remain with the BHF to fund research and raise awareness of heart disease. Items will go live on the charity’s eBay store at 1pm on February 18.
As the music began, the atmosphere in the room shifted immediately. A dreamy soundtrack layered with subtle nature elements set an ethereal, almost otherworldly tone, underscoring the collection’s environmental message.
Technicolour dominated the runway, with tones clashing and softening in equal measure, while distressed textures and punctured or “holed” fabric treatments introduced the punk undertone Vin + Omi are famed for; exemplifying the message that sustainability doesn’t have to be muted.
Reworked textiles from nettle, butterbur and wood clippings from Sandringham featured alongside recycled metal textiles made from RAF waste cans.
Ahead of the show, Dame Prue told the Press Association that her first experience walking for the brand was far from a traditional fashion show.
She said: “I had the idea that it would be a conventional kind of catwalk show. You know, we walk 25 yards down a catwalk, turn around, walk back there. But they said, we don’t have to do that.”
The first time she walked the runway for the designers was in 2024, and she recalled: “I did find it quite difficult, because, those models [have] all got long, long legs, and they walk so fast. And I – an old lady – am puffing along in the background.”
Before stepping onto the runway this season, she admitted she did not know exactly what she would be wearing.
“I have no idea,” she said. “I know it’s going to be made out of holly – which sounds very prickly.
“I was surprised that you could turn willow bark into something like linen, and so I’m sure you could do the same with holly.”
On the night, her structured orange suit contrasted sharply with the softness of the pastel-heavy collection, the pink ruffles and floral headpiece adding theatrical flourish as she made her way down the runway in trainers.
While Dame Prue is happy to be dressed up in just about anything, when asked if there was anything she would refuse to wear, she simply said “a bikini”.
“They know I like to look good, whatever it is, and I’m quite glamorous,” she added. “I don’t want to look ludicrous, although I think we come quite close.”
Dame Prue, who is known for her bold glasses and bright clothes, says her style “came more with age and also with my second marriage”.
She added: “Because my husband is a fashion designer, he’s retired now but he spent all his life in women’s fashion.
“He buys all my clothes, so between Vin and Omi and [my husband], I never have to go shopping – I absolutely loathe shopping – the only kind of shopping I like is food in a French market.”
Reflecting on turning 86, she says she feels “much more cavalier” about what people think than she did when she was younger.
Writing her forthcoming book, Being Old, has prompted her to consider how she has continued to “grow up” throughout her life.
“You think you’re grown up at 25, but you go on growing up,” she said. “If someone has a go at you on social media, it’s distressing, but in the great scheme of things it’s yesterday’s newspaper.”
That perspective, she says, informed her decision to step away from The Great British Bake Off after nine years.
She added: “When you’re 86, you don’t have unlimited time left. I loved it, but I want to do other things.”
Among those ambitions is seeing one of her eight novels adapted for screen. Asked who might play her in a biopic, she suggested Phoebe Waller-Bridge, citing her “anarchic” quality.
As for the runway, Dame Prue will be wearing trainers, having given up high heels around a decade ago. “I’m quite wobbly now, even in trainers,” she says. “I can’t walk in a straight line – I’d look like a drunken sailor.”
After the finale, she returned to the runway with the designers to applause. The show ended with a surprise birthday celebration in her honour, with the audience singing Happy Birthday as she prepares to turn 86 on February 18.
“It’s funny, an 86-year-old woman walking down the catwalk – of course it’s funny,” she laughed. “I just hope I look nice. I don’t like to look a fright.”
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